quote:Originally posted by Peter Kemp:I usually receive a catalogue for the Regency Auctions in plenty of time to decide what to bid on but here in the UK I seem to have also slipped off the list to receive one.

To be fair Peter, Regency did mail me a catalogue on time and USPS or Royal Mail have hijacked it.

Regency have been very helpful in sending a second copy.

connoisseurMember

Posts: 171From: Northridge, CARegistered: Nov 2000

posted 04-17-2007 06:36 PM
A helpful word about the Regency auction catalog policies. They are based on activity. If you are an active buyer in at least one of the two sales held per year, you will receive a copy of the catalog automatically. If you have not bid, or bid successfully within the past two years, you are placed on the inactive list. If this happens you are sent a letter advising you that 1) you can subscribe to the catalogs (to keep receiving the catalog until there is something of interest to you) OR, 2) asking if perhaps you wish to sell your collection.

While we are fairly loose and easy about the catalogs here in the States where postage is nominal, to send a copy of the catalog overseas costs us about $50/100 depending on how it is sent, so we can't just send them out if you are not serious about buying. I am told that, right now, Regency has over 25,000 names on their inactive list. Just think what we would have to raise our fees to if we were to send catalogs to all of those people.

Bear in mind, you know if you have made a purchase within the past year. If you have, you should expect to receive a catalog (subject to the mails). If it doesn't arrive we replace it asap. If you haven't made the purchase you shouldn't expect to receive the catalog automatically. What you can do, and what we do as a one time courtesy, is to contact us in Beverly Hills and we will send you an additional complimentary catalog. It is a one shot deal. If you buy, you are back on the mailing list. If you don't, please don't ask us for a comp catalog again as we DO keep track of those who abuse our courtesy. Of course, if you don't buy, you can always pay for the catalog subscription and receive the catalog that way.

Let me know if there is confusion to the policies.

A word to the wise, the Thursday sale is getting rave reviews. If you think that this one is outstanding, just wait until the October sale. Even I am impressed as I am writing it already. You WILL want to keep receiving our catalog. Stay tuned for press releases about some of the highlights.

connoisseurMember

Posts: 171From: Northridge, CARegistered: Nov 2000

posted 04-18-2007 10:21 PM
Just a heads up to remind you all that the sale starts tomorrow (Thursday) at 11 AM PDT (ie. 1100 Zulu). We started to hear today that some people just automatically assumed that the sale began Saturday as it used to do. Don't miss out. We have also found out that some Europeans were having trouble with the time. Please pass the word. Thanks.

posted 04-19-2007 10:21 PM
Well, actually $77,050 with fees. I can tell you I kept the cursor a looooong way away from that Bid Now: US$ 68000 button and kept an eye out for the cat in case he jumped up on the desk and sent a bid.

atpowellMember

Posts: 43From: Pittsburgh, PA USARegistered: Apr 2004

posted 04-19-2007 10:21 PM
I was thinking of you (didn't you post your cat made a bid for you at Aurora?) When the 'Internet Bidder' jumped in at $50K or something, my heart skipped a beat - making sure it wasn't me!

SRBMember

Posts: 258From: Registered: Jan 2001

posted 04-19-2007 10:21 PM
If you are a very serious collector of flown Apollo space covers and wish to exhibit a "complete" collection of Apollo 11 material, this is a "must have" item. Three examples of this cancellation made during the flight were kept by the astronauts. I've never seen the other two. Flown covers from the Apollo 11 mission sell for $20,000 to 30,000; and there are more than two hundred of them. With three collectors willing to pay over $50,000 for the cancellation, the final price was not out of line with the demand.

Greggy_DMember

Posts: 629From: MichiganRegistered: Jul 2006

posted 04-19-2007 10:23 PM
I was also surprised that Gordon Cooper's Astronaut Wings fetched 7k. The estimate (I think) was around 1,500 to 2,000.

cosmos-walterMember

Posts: 406From: Salzburg, AustriaRegistered: Jun 2003

posted 04-19-2007 10:24 PM
Three official postmarks travelled with Apollo flights to the moon: Apollo 11 and two different with Apollo 15.

According to Michael Collins' "Carrying the Fire" Apollo 11 astronauts made 3 trial cancellations before cancelling the official cover.

In my collection I have trial cancellations from Salyut-5 and Mir space stations. The first strikes are weak and differ significantly from the last ones. Thus the cancellation sold here seems to be the best of the three ones.

At Hadley Base Dave Scott cancelled the official postmark twice on the official Apollo 15 cover. Both cancellations are very poor, which proves that he did not make any trial cancellation at all.

However, before launch Dr. Radnovsky made 150 proof and 4 trial cancellations of Apollo 11 postmark. Later very few trial cancellations of both Apollo 15 postmarks showing different dates were done before launch.

Only 5 items were postmarked during Apollo moon flights. Two of them are not-for-sale museum covers. Lot 379 is the last cancelled and most likely the clearest of only 3 flown items with Apollo postmark which ever might be available.

If each astronaut kept one trial cancellation it is unlikely Neil Armstrong's will ever appear on the market.

This probably makes this item the most important astrophilatelic document outside of Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

bengutteryMember

Posts: 542From: Fort Worth, TX, USARegistered: Feb 2005

posted 04-19-2007 10:24 PM
Forget what I said last week about prices seeming rather soft. People were just saving up for today.

cliffordMember

Posts: 223From: Maplewood, nj, 07040Registered: Aug 2000

posted 04-19-2007 10:25 PM
I am not sure I understand the HUGE prices paid for NASA photos that are unsigned. In the thousands for red number photos?

Also nice prices for flown items. I bid high (I thought) for a few lucite items and was out bid for them all. A new trend for flown items?

What do you think?

Greggy_DMember

Posts: 629From: MichiganRegistered: Jul 2006

posted 04-19-2007 10:25 PM
I was also a bit mystified about the prices paid for mid to late 90's signed STS crew lithos. Wow.

connoisseurMember

Posts: 171From: Northridge, CARegistered: Nov 2000

posted 04-19-2007 11:37 PM
To all of you who participated, tried to participate or will participate tomorrow in the sale - I just want to take this opportunity to thank you for helping to make the sale (at least the first 900 lots) a resounding success. I just got home and am going straight to bed. The bidding activity from the the mail, internet, the phones and on the floor sure wears out a person. I think it proves, with a major exclamation point, that the market is diverse, vibrant and, for quality material, stronger than ever. This bodes well for the hobby and for the future.

I built the sale, the Regency-Superior staff put the catalog together along the guidelines that I specified I wanted and voila, you all came to our party. Thank you!!

Lets finish it tomorrow and do it again in October. I think that it is a winning combination.

Also thank you for all your help re corrections and catalog mistakes. I DO appreciate the help as this keeps me on my toes and constantly increases my knowledge.

spaced outMember

Posts: 2597From: Paris, FranceRegistered: Aug 2003

posted 04-20-2007 02:29 AM
Of note to me (all prices inc buyer fees)

Aoollo 1 patches (317 &321) - $780 & $1035. Impressive.

I really liked the Apollo flown flag presentations that were inscribed to "Rooster". All had faded signatures (with a few Autopens) but I'd prefer one of these to an anonymous version any day. It's unusual to be able to directly compare prices for almost identical flown items from all the missions in the same sale:

By contrast the flown flags that were lacking in obvious provenance struggled a bit. I'm sure all are genuine but when it's a just a flag mounted with a label, or a flag with a copy of a LOA, the values are always going to suffer a little. The GT4 flags (252 &253) at $1725 and $1207 certainly fell into this category, likewise the Apollo 9 flag (362) at $1150. To a lesser extent the Apollo 17 flag suffered a little too (596) $4200, although again I'm sure it's genuine.

gliderpilotukMember

Posts: 3043From: London, UKRegistered: Feb 2002

posted 04-20-2007 08:48 AM
My replacement catalogue arrived the morning of the auction, so thanks to Regency for rushing out a replacement. A great quality publication.

I was amazed how quickly the items were run through and unlike previous Live auctions I managed to get all of my bids in. Despite that, at 00:15 UK time I gave up and so missed the last 250 or so items. I realise it's a long day for staff whichever way you cut it but it would be nice for us Europeans if the auction could in future start a couple of hours earlier.

At 10th place and $6,250 was the Ap 11 flown heatshield. The Ap8 one went for $2,300 (must sell mine!).

Lot 696 - ALT flown cue card inscribed to Deke went for $2,000, but the Earthrise inscribed to Deke was only $1,300. A similar flown ALT cue card presentation inscribed "To Walt" sold for only $350 last year.

This auction certainly bucked the trend and in some cases showed higher prices achieved than Swann's. I was very happy with my Ap8 uninscribed crew at $375 and the Anders TLS plus signed lithos.

posted 04-20-2007 09:36 AM
Yep, if there's one thing I could change it would the auction start time. 11am PT is a killer over here in Europe. The 45 minute lunch break was called at around 0:25 our time which meant a pretty painful wait until 1:10 for the rest of the auction. Because I really wanted to bid live late on I stayed up until 3:15am but it wasn't fun.

A start time of 9am doesn't sound unreasonable and would have made my 3:15am end of auction a far more reasonable 1:15am (12:15 in the UK).

bengutteryMember

Posts: 542From: Fort Worth, TX, USARegistered: Feb 2005

posted 04-20-2007 09:49 AM
For more on Rooster Andrews, you can check out his web site.

I grew up in Austin and visited his stores many times. Lots of neat stuff displayed int he main store just north of the the University of Texas.

DannoNew Member

Posts: From: Registered:

posted 04-20-2007 10:28 AM

quote:Originally posted by 413 is in:Lot 309 - Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Does anyone know what this sold for?

The hammer price was US $80,000.

AztecdougMember

Posts: 1330From: Huntington BeachRegistered: Feb 2000

posted 04-20-2007 12:33 PM
The auction left a few of us on the floor empty handed on our plan "A" items as prices were so strong. Well, the few of us with a budget, and a devalued US Dollar.

But, what I am starting to learn is if you don't follow the "herd" you can do real well. In short, while I didn't get the acrylics I desired within my budget, I found great opportunities in signed covers.

High level I am sensing that people are putting more importance on mission critical hardware rather then momentos. Like a heatshield plug is starting to go up in value over something nice taken along for the ride in a PPK.

I thought the selection of goodies was really awesome at this auction.

What are your thoughts?

cosmos-walterMember

Posts: 406From: Salzburg, AustriaRegistered: Jun 2003

posted 04-20-2007 02:57 PM
Michael, you are doing a great job for us collectors. Thank You!

mjanovecMember

Posts: 3593From: Midwest, USARegistered: Jul 2005

posted 04-20-2007 03:13 PM
There appeared to be some real bargains for those who took notice...such as an Apollo 16 crew-signed photo that went for $115.

spaced outMember

Posts: 2597From: Paris, FranceRegistered: Aug 2003

posted 04-20-2007 03:51 PM

quote:Originally posted by Aztecdoug:I thought the selection of goodies was really awesome at this auction.

It used to be Aurora that was the highlight of the space auction year but it looks like Regency has taken that slot now.

quote:Originally posted by Aztecdoug:High level I am sensing that people are putting more importance on mission critical hardware rather then momentos. Like a heatshield plug is starting to go up in value over something nice taken along for the ride in a PPK.

It's the old 'nuts & bolts' versus 'trinkets' discussion again. Personally I fully understand the appeal of a mission-critical bit of heatshield plug but I would much rather have a flown flag from the same mission. One type of object isn't 'superior' to the other, and I'm only glad that everyone doesn't like the same kind of object otherwise I'd never be able to afford what I want.

Thanks for that you've cheered me up, I thought I had gone way over the top for it!!!

I wish now I had hung in there with the moon landing stamp but it was a bit daunting. Having had time to consider I think it was probably cheap, there aren't many more!

machbustermanMember

Posts: 1657From: Dunfermline, Fife, ScotlandRegistered: May 2004

posted 04-21-2007 12:12 AM
I "arrived" late for this auction but am happy with the Slick Goodlin glossy I picked up especially as the 2nd similar item went for nigh on double the price.

Someone got a bargain with the X-15 glossy signed by Engle, Dana, Crossfield and White... that went for $110... just a pity that the lot closed before it registered my bid.

spaced outMember

Posts: 2597From: Paris, FranceRegistered: Aug 2003

posted 04-21-2007 01:54 AM

quote:Originally posted by poofacio:Thanks for that you've cheered me up, I thought I had gone way over the top for it!!!

I'm glad to hear you were the buyer David. Congratulations!

It's only my opinion of course but I think you got one of the best Apollo 11 flown flags of recent years and it was relatively cheap too. A few years ago examples sold at $23000 to $31615, although as with Armstrong signed lithos maybe most people prefer uninscribed (or unfaded) certificates.

connoisseurMember

Posts: 171From: Northridge, CARegistered: Nov 2000

posted 04-21-2007 08:15 AM
I am enjoying seeing the comments about the "bargains' that some of you have gotten. That tells me that, despite the strong prices, the auction was truly balanced. If run properly and without reserves (as ours always is), there should always be "bargains" that slip in since attention can't be on all lots at all times. I like to hear of them since it tells all of you that if you pay attention, and do your homework ahead of time, you don't have to have deep pockets to get good buys. I try to structure the sales so that there is something for everyone. Having some material bring top value SHOULD be balanced with some bargains. That is the essence of a true marketplace. The comments made in the past day or so about not following the herd to the popular areas but looking at those areas that are less popular is also shrewed advice. An auction shouldn't be just a hodgepodge of material, but should be a balanced presentation with something for everyone. It would appear that this one was. It has been suggested by some (privately) that I eliminate much of the lesser material from the sale and concentrate on just the rare material (ie: to hold a "rarity" sale). I am resisting that concept as 1) not everyone has deep pockets and 2) items that are reasonably priced today may not be so tomorrow so why deprive collectors the opportunity to buy when prices are low.

On a somewhat different note, did I detect a weakening demand for crew-signed material in this sale and an increase in demand for the material end of things? If so, this would seem to be a major change from the past. Could it be that being the third of three sales, all held within a 30 day period just oversaturated the market for that particular area. Post-sale analysis is half the fun from my end. The other half is working/planning for the next sale (October). To this end I already have some gangbuster material lined up for that sale. I showed a few items to some of the collectors that attended the sale this week and it was most gratifying to see the jaws hit the floor. Should be interesting....

micropoozMember

Posts: 1239From: Washington, DC, USARegistered: Apr 2003

posted 04-21-2007 09:48 AM
Michael, in support of your mention of a balanced auction with something for everyone - I want to thank you for the great selection of space covers that you had this time! This was the first time in almost 10 years that I found covers in Superior that I needed for my collection. And I got a couple! Thank you.

Rick MulheirnMember

Posts: 2458From: EnglandRegistered: Feb 2001

posted 04-21-2007 01:29 PM
Mike, I think the softening of crewsigned was a combination of three auctions in quick succession (I thought some of the models prices modest) and the increase in the number of items released on to the market by astronauts anf key figures in recent years i.e. Collins, Worden, Cooper, Gordon, Duke etc etc.

A good auction I thought and well managed too it seemed from here. Congratulations and bring on the next one.

divemasterMember

Posts: 1341From: ridgefield, ctRegistered: May 2002

posted 04-21-2007 02:39 PM
I had to miss parts of the auction. What did the Saturn V and Saturn 1b models, Lots 1050 and 1051, sell for?

Bob MMember

Posts: 1367From: Atlanta-area, GA USARegistered: Aug 2000

posted 04-21-2007 03:00 PM
Now after the dust has settled and looking back over the lots that some here seriously questioned, it looks like R-S mostly agreed and some were withdrawn, but there were some exceptions:

Lot 577 - Apollo 16 with very probable Young and Mattingly forgeries sold for $375

And not mentioned, but Lot 647, a Skylab cover with Conrad and Kerwin autopens, sold for $50 and Lot 732, an STS-51C crew signed cover with Mattingly and Payton autopens sold for $210.

Rick MulheirnMember

Posts: 2458From: EnglandRegistered: Feb 2001

posted 04-21-2007 05:18 PM
From memory the Saturn V sold for $4750 give or take and the Saturn 1B for $8500 excluding commission.

divemasterMember

Posts: 1341From: ridgefield, ctRegistered: May 2002

posted 04-21-2007 05:29 PM
Thanks, Rick. Someone walked away with quite the bargain on the Saturn V. I figured at least 10 & 8 when I first saw the catalog.

Rick MulheirnMember

Posts: 2458From: EnglandRegistered: Feb 2001

posted 04-21-2007 05:31 PM
I couldn't agree with you more Tracy. The Saturn V sold for what I thought the 1B would go for and vice versa. I thought the models in general were cheap; Topping LM in pretty good condition and Topping Gemini for $450 apiece and a reasonable Hyatt stack for $900.

divemasterMember

Posts: 1341From: ridgefield, ctRegistered: May 2002

posted 04-21-2007 06:07 PM
Both of those models are RARE in good condition in those scales.

It doesn't seem like all that long ago when the [if memory serves] Wyatt CSM's were selling for $4K and up. The last couple went for under $1K.

Not that it's a fair comparison, but I remember being on the auction floor during the 1999 Christie's auction and remember just shaking my head at what "common" models were selling for that day.

Ah, but those large scale contractor V's and 1b's are the true gems.

Rick MulheirnMember

Posts: 2458From: EnglandRegistered: Feb 2001

posted 04-22-2007 05:30 AM
I have noticed the prices realized on Topping and Hyatt models depends very much on which auction house you sell them in. Swann usually commands the best prices; if my memory serves me right a Topping LM sold there only a month or so back for $2k.

NASA GlennMember

Posts: 35From: Cleveland OHRegistered: Feb 2007

posted 04-23-2007 01:01 PM
The last big buck Hyatt stacks were either mint in box, astronaut (or Gene Krantz) autographed from their personal collections, or the extra tall version on the wooden base as I recall. These last three were all somewhat yellowed, worn, and on the plastic heat stamped bases.

The last big dollar LEMs I recall were a Grumman presentation to some ambassador on a non-standard wood base with plaque, and a mint in box example. Otherwise they seem to gravitate to the $400-$650 range.

NASA GlennMember

Posts: 35From: Cleveland OHRegistered: Feb 2007

posted 04-23-2007 01:21 PM
Ignore that last comment. I looked again and there actually seems to be no rhyme or reason to the Topping /Hyatt/Precise prices. They seem to be all over the place, and not necessarily related to provenance or condition.

capoetcMember

Posts: 1705From: Newnan GA (USA)Registered: Aug 2005

posted 05-05-2007 06:47 AM
My package arrived from Regency-Superior yesterday -- very well protected, and all was in good shape.

The Irwin was $190 (not including the 15% fee), which I thought was a reasonable deal. I wanted a nice Irwin, and did not want to pay the $$$ for a WSS -- this was a nice compromise since there seem to be lots and lots of the lithos of Irwin on the moon out there.

I was REALLY surprised that I won the Armstrong inscribed WSS, though. I placed my bids in advance through the Regency-Superior web site, and as I followed along with the live auction I noticed that my max bid of $550 was exceeded during bidding, up to $700 -- so I figured I had lost the auction. Then a couple days later I was notified that I won both lots -- so, I guess whoever bid $700 must have retracted their bid. So, I am very pleased to have gotten an inscribed Armstrong WSS for $633 (including the %15 fee).